The people next door party.Their laughter just sounds wrong,Because you’re gone.

The bed seems so much larger.Where did this space come from?It’s ’cause you’re gone.

I don’t know how I’ll get up.To go to work alone.Because you’re gone.

The touch, the taste, the smell of you,Keep coming back to me as I lie here.And I wonder what I’m gonna do,To make it through these cold and empty years.Each minute’s an eternity,When you have to live it all alone.Each second is a lifetime,When I realise that you have gone.

And when you hear me sing this song.With a voice all cracked and broken from my tears.I know that you’ll be laughing,I know you’ll never understand my fears.It’s late at night and I should sleep,And dream that you are lying here with me.That once again our legs entwine.That once again your love will set me free.

It’s three days ‘til you’re back with me.How will I ever live that long?Because you’re gone.

I have been informed that two of my poems have been nominated for the 2013 Rhysling Award! They are, in the long poem category, “Grandfather” that was first podcast on StarShipSofa Episode 229 (March 2012) and, in the short category, “Blind Obedience” first published in Eye to the Telescope (SFPA’s Online Journal of Speculative Poetry). Both can also be found in The Poring Dark.

To say that I am blown away would be the mildest of understatements! Some of the past nominees include (apologies for giving a very truncated list):

The brilliant (seriously, check him out at Terrible Minds) Chuck Wendig declared February 6th to be Please Don’t Pirate My Book Day and asked authors to blog/tweet about it.

So…

Please don’t take the ideas in my books and adapt them for a Scandinavian porn magazine (without paying me as creative consultant).

Please don’t grab my books and make them walk the plank (neither print books nor e-books do well in the briny).

I am totally down with the idea that pirating can increase an author’s readership, so, if you must illegally download my books, I would like you to:

1) Go to one of the many official online sources of my books (links can be found at the TDA Bookstore) and write a review.

2) Give the link of the TDA Bookstore to your friends and advise them to buy the book (rather than linking them to the pirated copy).

3) Buy a copy of the book and donate it to a reading programme.

4) In general terms, I would like all readers who do access pirated books to commit to buying one book for every pirated book that they read. (I understand that many people download massive floods that may contain hundreds of books; personally I don’t think that they count until the book has been read.)

All science fiction and YA authors out there should take a look at the ‘Guide to Literary Agents’ blog at Writer’s Digest. Currently there is a free competition where you can win a professional critique and subscription to WritersMarket.com